By Robert Michael Buchholz (DMC Eximius SHRIM writer)

We may not think about it, but it is the fact. We fear more on getting poor. Maybe some fear more on ghosts. But we forget to fear a greater fright, the calamities throughout the world.

If we rewind many years ago, the era of dinosaurs ended because of a cataclysmic event. A massive comet hit the Gulf of Mexico. Ultimately, nothing survived. All that were left were fossils and relics of the Jurassic age.

Now let us forward to the present, today is the time of us humans to control the world. We go to our daily routine without noticing disasters. Just like attractions, there are two kinds of calamities, man-made and natural.

When we talk about man-made, the thing that comes to our minds are catastrophic accidents and disastrous terrorism. Accidents really happen, be it in air crash, in sunken ships, road accidents or just where you are right now. We cannot tell. But terrorism, it is another story. The possibility of war and conflict comes from one source, selfishness. Terrorists are there, as their name obviously suggests, to terrorize and achieve their hideous and selfish motives, whatever it may be. Needless to say, making the world a peaceful and better place is not in their vocabulary.

Aside from man-made, there is still another kind of disaster that is very unpredictable. We may know it coming, but still unstoppable. Think about China during the devastating earthquake that hit them. Think about the Tsunami that hit coasts around Indian Ocean. Or think about the Bagyong Ondoy and Pepeng tandem that hit the whole area of Luzon. Did we see those coming?

Disaster is everywhere. Lots of casualties have been recorded. Many children lost their parents. Yet no one can hide from it. Nothing can stop it. We can’t prevent it. The only thing we can do is to be prepared. And when the true horror comes to us, we are ready.